Viaplay

• Viaplay Group’s full year earnings for 2023 were in line with the preliminary figures which the company released back in January.
• Group organic sales grew 3% in Q4, from 4,670 MSEK to 4,03 MSEK.
• The net result for Q4 was a loss of SEK 2.9 billion, compared to the loss of SEK 250 million in Q4 2022.
• During the conference call, CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann revealed that Viaplay is planning to release a HVOD tier this year.
• Viaplay will also take action against account sharing this year. Jørgen Madsen Lindemann stated that “We will let ourselves be inspired by industry colleagues who have launched successful methods against account sharing, which we will roll out already this year.”

Warner Bros. Discovery

• Warner Bros. Discovery’s net loss in Q4 2023 was USD 400 million, compared with a loss of USD 2.1 billion in Q4 2022.
• The company reported 97.7 million global direct-to-consumer subscribers, a 2% increase from the previous quarter and a 7% YOY increase.
• The subscription streaming service Max ended 2023 profitable, with full year adjusted EBITDA of USD 103 million.
• Max’s advertising tier, currently only available in the US, will be rolled out to 40 international markets by the end of 2024. This was stated by CEO David Zaslav during the earnings call.
• Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery closed at -10% on Friday after the report, as it fell shy of Wall Street’s expectations.

A few weeks ago, the Super bowl LVIII was held in Las Vegas. The Kansas City Chiefs was crowned NFL champions after an overtime victory against the San Francisco 49ers. The event was the most watched telecast so far, with an average of 123.4 million viewers across all platforms. It is a seven percent increase compared to last year’s Super Bowl, which was the previous record at 115.1 million viewers.

In Denmark, the future is now uncertain for NFL fans as the current right holder TV2 has opted out of the broadcasting rights. This means that NFL matches currently cannot be seen on any Danish channels. This is due to TV2’s overall finances and the new 3F Superliga rights that the company has acquired, among other things.

TV2 had originally signed a 3-year contract with the NFL but had an option to get out of the agreement after two seasons, which they have now used.

Frederik Lauesen, Sports Director at TV2 commented that “The primary reason is the round of savings that TV2 went through in the autumn, when we also had to say goodbye to several colleagues. Then we looked through our rights, and as far as sports were concerned, we had an opportunity to save money by terminating our NFL contract. Secondly, although the ratings have been fine without being flashy, the NFL has also been pulled in sales of play subscriptions, and so we just had to admit that it was an easy place to save some money.”

Time will tell if another actor will pick up the NFL rights before the next season starts. If not, Danish NFL fans will have to turn to NFL game pass to access the NFL games. Last year, close to 200 000 15-74-year-olds in Denmark stated interest in watching the NFL. This is presented in Mediavision’s Sports Analysis.

Streaming service Skyshowtime has signed its first distribution deal. The deal is for the streamer’s first Nordic original series, Codename: Annika, which premiered on Skyshowtime in September last year.
 

The international sales rights for the Swedish-Finnish drama series have been acquired by Mediawan Rights. The company will take on the distribution of the series outside of SkyShowtime’s markets, as well as second window rights within Skyshowtime’s existing markets.
 

“Our partnership with Mediawan Rights marks our first distribution deal and highlights the strength and caliber of SkyShowtime Original Series, as well as the demand for our original programming worldwide,” comments Kai Finke, Chief Content Officer, SkyShowtime.
 

Managing Director of Mediawan Rights, Valérie Vleeschhouwer commented that “We are proud to add this SkyShowtime Original Series to our distribution line-up, enriching Mediawan Rights’ catalogue and strengthening our international development strategy. With a distinctive aesthetic, captivating storytelling, and a strong female leading role, we are convinced that this high-end series will meet current market expectations worldwide.”
 

Mediawan Rights is the distribution arm of the France-based Mediawan, which also sells shows such as the TV series remake of Zorro and drama series Sphinx.

Yesterday, the voice switcher feature was launched on Storytel in Sweden. It allows users to switch between several different voices when listening to audiobooks on the platform. One of the selectable voices is an AI version of Stefan Sauk, a well-known actor and narrator in Sweden.
 

The voice switcher is made possible by an AI powered voice generating technology that Storytel has developed in collaboration with ElevenLabs. According to Storytel, the voice switcher is an innovation that aims to solve the basic audiobook problem of different users having different tastes in narration.
 

“Storytel’s Voice Switcher is an innovation aimed at addressing a fundamental audiobook problem: Different users have different preferences regarding the narrator’s voice. A whopping 89% of Storytel’s listeners have at some point abandoned a book not because the book was bad, but because the voice did not suit them. Innovating a solution to that problem benefits the customers, the authors, and the publishers”, says Johan Ståhle, Chief Product Officer at Storytel.

The voice switcher feature is now available on 25 selected titles Swedish titles, and users can choose between five different voices narrating the title.

Mediavision: Growing demand for local content in the Nordics – Broadband TV News

Mediavision: Ad-Supported SVOD Gaining Traction in the Nordics – Media Play News

Mediavision: Starkt intresse för HVOD i Sverige – Dagens Media

Efterspørgslen på nordisk tv-indhold stiger men udbuddet kan ikke følge med – Mediawatch

Sweden: Interest growing in ad-supported streaming – Advanced Television

Svenskar vill se mer svenskt på streamad tv – Sveriges Radio

Illegal affär kostar filmindustrin miljarder – Dagens PS

Var fjärde svensk strömmar olaglig tv – SVT

Kan bli det store gjennombruddet for denne typen TV-abonnement – Kampanje

Mediavision: Digitala ljudtjänster tar andelar på ljudmarknaden – Radionytt

Return of media piracy fuelling other crimes, expert says – Yle

Krisen i tv-branschen fortsätter – nu ökar piratkopieringen – Aftonbladet